A recent story on WRAL in Raleigh caught my attention. The headline said "Assault Weapons." So I expected to see a story about some terrorist armed with a machine gun cranking off hundreds of rounds like the North Hollywood Shootout. Instead, what I found was a common mistake among reporters: mislabeling a semiautomatic rifle as [...]
Monthly Archives: August 2008
- 3Aug29
Conservatives: Don’t Shy Away from Healthcare
Philip Klein, writing in the American Spectator, implores conservatives to talk about healthcare: Liberal activists have had more than a decade to pore over the failure of HillaryCare in 1994, and should Democrats capture the White House this fall and make further gains in Congress, they will be armed and ready to fight for government [...]
- Aug29
Palin Commentary…
..from a pundit who shall remain anonymous. A sliver: 1. She has been a mayor and is a governor, so she has executive experience Obama does not. 2. She ran against the corrupt Alaskan political machine of Ted Stevens and Don Young, so she’s a different kind of Republican. She disagrees with McCain [...]
- 1Aug29
NC Teacher Pay Scales: A Plan for Change
Like most teacher pay scales, NC teachers are rewarded for time of service, credentials and advance degrees. Problem is, none of these variables is really tied to classroom effectiveness. The lack of linkage between good teaching and compensation, not only shapes the lifetime earnings arc of teachers but also impacts students whose achievement levels are [...]
- Aug29
Back to Basics: Bastiat’s “The Law”
If you haven’t yet read "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat, I recommend you do so. It won’t take you long – its only 76 pages. The brevity of this work is perfectly appropriate as the proper role of government, and the law it enforces, is quite minimal. In his weekly column out today, Sheldon Richman [...]
- Aug28
Oh the Irony…
The quote of the day from The Insider: <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 [...]
- Aug28
NEA: It’s Not Your Mother and Father’s Teachers Union
NEA: It’s Not Your Mother and Father’s Teachers UnionEarlier this year the National Education Association (NEA) named Governor Easley “America’s Greatest Education Governor.” The award raised lots of eye brows including mine and I wrote my thoughts in a piece available on our web site. While Easley has never been shy about helping the teachers [...]
- Aug27
More Government Failure in Health Care
Four years ago, the state of Maine enacted their attempt at "universal health coverage" – called Dirigo Care. Big surprise! The program hasn’t exactly lived up to its billing, as this article points out: "Dirigo Care has cost the state’s taxpayers nearly $164 million in the four years since its inception. Although its intended purpose [...]
- Aug27
Can We Expect 10-foot Wide Boats?
The last time the Governor and General Assembly were at loggerheads about an issue, it was the Goodyear deal. It seemed Governor was going to race in and save us from an egregious use of state dollars to cough up corporate welfare. After veto threats, and what was probably a planned controversy, the General Assembly [...]